Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 289
An anonymous presbyter from Norcia (Italy) lives in total separation from his wife since ordination. Account of Gregory the Great, "Dialogues", Rome, AD 593/594.
IV 12.1-3
 
1.Sed neque hoc sileam, quod uir uenerabilis abbas Stephanus, qui non longe ante hoc in hac urbe defunctus est, quem etiam ipse bene nosti, in eadem prouincia Nursiae contigisse referebat.
 
2. Aiebat enim quod illic presbiter quidam conmissam sibi cum magno timore Domini regebat ecclesiam. Qui ex tempore ordinis accepti presbiteram suam ut sororem diligens, sed quasi hostem cauens, ad se propius accedere numquam sinebat, eamque sibimet propinquare nulla occasione permittens, ab ea sibi communionem funditus familiaritatis absciderat. Habent quippe sancti uiri hoc proprium: nam ut semper ab inlicitis longe sint, a se plerumque etiam licita abscidunt. Vnde isdem uir, ne quam per eam incurreret culpam, sibi etiam ministrari per illam recusabat necessaria.
 
3. Hic ergo uenerabilis presbiter, cum longam uitae inplesset aetatem, anno quadragesimo ordinationis suae inardescente grauiter febre correptus, ad extrema deductus est. Sed cum eum presbitera sua conspiceret, solutis iam membris, quasi in mortem distensum, si quod adhuc ei uitale spiramen inesset, naribus eius adposita curauit aure dinoscere. Quod ille sentiens, cui tenuissimus inerat flatus, quantulo adnisu ualuit ut loqui potuisset, inferuescente spiritu collegit uocem atque erupit, dicens: 'Recede a me, mulier. Adhuc igniculus uiuit. Paleam tolle'.
 
The presbyter then dies and is accompanied by the apostles to heaven.
 
(ed. de Vogüé 1980: 48-50)
IV 12.1-3
 
1. Neither must I pass in silence that which the venerable man, Abbot Stephanus, who not long ago died in this city, and whom you also knew well, told me happened in the same province of Nursia.
 
2. For he said that a certain presbyter in that place governed with the great fear of the Lord the church entrusted to him. Since the time of his ordination he loved his wife (presbitera) as a sister, yet he avoided her as if an enemy. On no occasion would he permit her to come near him, wholly abstaining from any intimacy of common life (communio familiaritatis). As you well know this is quite characteristic of the holy men: to always keep distance from those things which are illicit, they oftentimes deprive themselves also of those things which are permitted. Hence, this man, not to fall because of her into fault, refused to be served by her even in the ordinary daily duties.
 
3. When, therefore, this venerable presbyter came to the end of his long life, he was seized, in the fortieth year since his ordination, by a great inflaming fever and was brought to the limits. When his wife (presbitera) saw him lying with inert limbs as if dead, she put her ear to his nostrils to check whether he still breathed. He felt that and, although breathing very feebly and being too weak to be able to speak, with great fervour of spirit he gathered his voice and burst out, saying: "Move away from me, woman. The spark still lives. Away with the chaff".
 
The presbyter then dies and is accompanied by the apostles to heaven.
 
(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

It is important to note the title used to describe the presbyter's wife, namely presbytera.

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
City
  • Norcia

About the source:

Author: Gregory the Great
Title: Dialogues, Dialogorum Gregorii Papae libri quatuor de miraculis Patrum Italicorum, Dialogi
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Gregory the Great wrote his Dialogues between 593 and 594 in Rome when he was the Bishop of this city. They were written in order to present lives and miracles of Italian saints, many of them contemporary to Gregory, and the greatest of them, saint Benedict of Nurcia. The Dialogues are divided into four books in which Gregory tells the stories of various saints to Peter, who was a deacon and a friend of Gregory, and is also known from the Gregory`s private correspondence.
Edition:
Grégoire le Grand, Dialogues, ed. A. de Vogüé, Sources Chretiennes 251, 260, 265, Paris 1978-1980.

Categories:

Family life - Marriage
Family life - Permanent relationship before ordination
Family life - Permanent relationship continued after ordination
Family life - Separation/Divorce
Sexual life - Sexual abstinence
Functions within the Church - Parish presbyter
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Described by a title - Titles of respect
Fame of sanctity
Relation with - Wife
Described by a title - Presbytera/Presbyteressa
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER289, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=289